Reasoning Together
by ThePrimeOne
Summary: Felix wants Annette to help him practice training in black magic. Day 6 of Felannie Week 2019, prompt: Teamwork.


_I'm going to become the strongest Knight, so that all my enemies will fear me!_

Felix was feared on the battlefield. No matter who the foe was he faced, be it human or beast, he had a knack for intimidation that perhaps only the boar could surpass, had he stopped trying to suppress his true self. Even off the battlefield, others often commented on the aura he gave off that caused many to slink away and not approach him, his permanent scowl intimidating anyone with a single glance; a scowl that no one could remove off his face.

And yet, there was always an exception to the rule, this exception coming in the form of a petite redhead girl from the Dominic noble family named Annette, and it was all because of that damned song she sang and the dance she performed along with it. A silly food song and impromptu dance sprinkled in with some fencing footwork was all it took to temporarily lift the emotional burdens he had been carrying for years; even longer than training ever did, much to Felix's shock. It was all so strange to Felix, to feel so… _liberated_ the way he did around her.

And in some ways, it scared him.

Which is why Felix stood in front of the entrance to the Greenhouse where he had last seen Annette, completely nervous out of his mind. He gripped the bridge of his nose in frustration. It was supposed to be something so damn simple, just ask her a question, and hopefully get an answer, assuming she doesn't run away for accidentally walking in on her singing and dancing again.

Felix called out that he was coming in, this time making sure he was louder than the first time he'd encountered Annette at the greenhouse. Opening the door and closing it behind him, he noticed Annette was simply humming a tune, tapping her feet against in time to the song. The redhead turned around to give him her signature warm smile that he'd had come to encounter in his thoughts on the battlefield and his dreams.

"Annette."

"Yes, Felix?"

"Are you free this weekend?" Felix asked bluntly, almost a little too quickly for his liking.

Annette blinked in order to comprehend what he said before tapping her chin. "Y-yes? I just wanna know though, what for? It's not like you to talk to someone like this- or at least that's what I've heard before anyway," Annette mumbled, recalling the first time she'd heard from others Felix's… grating personality after their encounter in the greenhouse.

_Surely they must exaggerated, _she concluded.

Felix cleared his throat. "To be quite frank, the professor starting to put me onto learning 'Reason'. She says I have a knack for it; I don't believe her but she taught me enough in class that I know how to theoretically apply it."

Annette tilted her head, trying to recall when the professor had taught him anything related to magic, but pulled a blank.

"All I need is practical experience, which is where you come in. I was hoping you could help me train my ability to wield reason if I do have any sort of talent in this at all. I'd ask the professor to assist, but she's always so busy after class anyway."

Annette looked at him, stunned. Felix Hugo Fraldarius was asking someone to train with _him_? And her of all people? Annette was too shocked to say anything, before recollecting her mind together after just having it blown.

"I… I suppose I could help you out," Annette mumbled in shock. "Yeah, uh, meet me in the library after breakfast this Saturday, okay?"

Felix sighed in relief. He could only hope that professor's hunch wasn't a waste of time.

Later that week, he met Annette in their designated place, only to end up carrying books downstairs for Annette down to their true destination, the open area outside their classroom.

Felix knew this could _only _go so well.

The duo sat down outside, opening books to the early pages of the books, Felix listening intently to Annette's explanations, her voice danced around in her thoughts as the explanations on how to wield magic became clearer and clearer to him.

"As I'm sure the professor taught you, when conjuring magic, you have to imagine the magic manifesting with yourself and releasing it through your hands," Annette explained. "But you have to be careful to control how much you manifest, else the magic that you output might be too weak or powerful than you want, rather than the middle ground you need to strike."

Felix nodded, following along with Annette's strangely melodic explanation that seemed to carve the knowledge she spoke directly into his head.

"Of course, this is really only the abridged version of a larger explanation, Annette continued. "The professor wasn't wrong when she said that you'd have a knack for Reason, it all depends on if you have a crest. Anyone can learn any kind of magic with enough work, but people with crests inherently have a head start."

He she wasn't wrong, after all _he_ had dabbled in magic thanks to bearing the Fraldarius crest to.

Felix sighed. It hurt to think about him again, but somehow, it didn't hurt as much as it normally did.

How odd.

"Hard to believe that it's as simple as using your imagination to make such powerful magic". Felix stood on his feet and closed his eyes to try and imagine fire rising up through the center of his body, travelling up and out through his right hand.

Resulting in a small sputter of flakes. He repeated the same action three times, all failed attempts that never resulted in the fire spells he'd seen used on the battlefield.

Felix frowned. "That's not supposed to happen, is it?"

Annette sweat dropped. "No, it's not. But trust me! It happens all the time when you're starting out," she tried to reassure him. "Try this. Try imagining the fire within you being condensed into one ball, rather than a stream. For fire spells, it's easier to produce fire balls than streams, but Thunder spells have a difficult time being condensed like fire spells," Annette rambled on, Felix somehow still listening to the conversation. "If that doesn't work, picking a target in mind when casting magic generally helps too," Annette explained to Felix.

Nearby, Sylvain, Ingrid and Dimitri were walking by to their classroom, the redhead among them frozen as he pointed out Felix and Annette sitting together outside.

"It's the end of the world as we know it!" Sylvain exclaimed with great exaggeration, something that didn't go unnoticed by Felix nor Annette. "And is that Annette? Is Felix actually having a study date with a girl?! They grow up so quickly!" Sylvain sarcastically sobbed, Ingrid punching him in the arm.

Annette's face turned as red as her hair and then some. "D-date?! Oh no, no, no, no, it's nothing like that, really!" Annette sputterded.

_Hm? Who's that? That's Sir Dominic's niece isn't it? Don't tell me she's your girlfriend now? Aw, my Little Fe's becoming a man now! They grow up so quickly!_

Felix rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Sylvain. Felix felt a sudden surge of power in his arms, a fireball launching from his hands, passing over Sylvain's head and hitting the building behind him.

"Huh. Looks like the professor was right."

"F-Felix! You have to be careful with magic! You could've incinerated Sylvain!" Annette exclaimed, her head hiding thoughts of his impressive ability, having summoned magic on his fourth attempt.

He looked at her with feigned confusion. "What? You did say that it'd be easier to cast if I had a target in mind, yes?"

"Felix! That's not what I meant, Annette groaned, her head in her hands, her voice clearly layered in frustration. Felix smirked at her then back at Sylvain who was still stunned by what had happened. "Don't worry. It was never going to hit him either way," he says with utmost confidence

His childhood friends had similar reactions, their jaws dropped to the floor at Felix's surprise stunt.

"Woah, woah, settle down Felix, I was only joking, really" Sylvain gulps.

Ingrid and Dimitri opens their mouths to begin a lecture and gets halfway before Felix snaps at them.

"Don't start with that nonsense," Felix glared at them. Closing the books, he swept them all into his arms and started to walk away from the spot Annette found on the grass. Hid study buddy jumped to her feet, chasing after Felix.

"Felix, where are you going?!"

"Away from them," he bluntly replied. "We're going to the training grounds."

Annette balked at him before standing up to chase after him. "Felix, wait for me!"

The redhead caught up with Felix, trying her best to keep up with Felix's wide strides. Eventually matching his pace, she noticed a strange expression on Felix's face in the corner of her eye. She wasn't as good at reading people compared to Mercie, but she knew a face rife with conflicting emotions when she saw it

After all, she saw it in the mirror every day her father would turn his back on her.

Felix's usually stern face had shifted into something different. With every passing second, his various masks of emotion began to fall apart as they approached the training grounds, Annette getting the feeling she was seeing the real Felix underneath all that obsession for training.

His face started out mildly annoyed before it turned to anger, gripping the books so hard it looked like he could rip it apart with little effort. The expression on his face soon grew soft, reverting to his normal, indifferent, yet stern expression he wore everyday. And then, his frown became more noticeable. He tilted his head down as if he were staring at the ground in thought, laying his chin on the two piles of books he was carrying.

Annette had never seen him look so… sad. She almost wanted to hug him, but ignored the thought, knowing Flex wouldn't react well to sudden contact. That and the thought alone would be too embarrassing for her… not that she would mind…

Annette groaned, hiding her red face in her hands.

"Something the matter?"

Annette shook her head. "No, it's fine."

Felix knew that wasn't true, but didn't bother asking. Pushing open the doors to the training grounds, both students bewildered to find that the place was strangely empty. Felix shrugged.

"Better for us. Means there won't be anyone to see us training," Felix said placing the books on the ground carefully. "Now, let's try this again." Felix grabbed a multitude of training dummies and set them up, ready to incinerate them from top to bottom.

Going back to the stance Annette and the Professor taught him, Felix began to try over and over again to create the fireball he made earlier, but to no avail; Felix creating nothing but small streams of fire. Evidently, Felix was getting annoyed.

"F-Felix, h-how about we just call it a day?"

"DAMMIT!" Felix roared, electricity sparking in the air as a violent Thoron erupted from his hand, destroying the dummy and destroying part of the wall on the outer edge of the training field. Annette stood frozen in disbelief, looking between the panting Felix and he destroyed dummy and wall. In her time at the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery, it became clear that the kind of magical power and control that Thoron required was something that even some experienced mages couldn't get a grasp on at times.

"Felix… how did you do that?"

Felix stared down at his stretched out hand, quivering with fear and electricity.

_Hey, Fe! Look at this!_

_Woah! That's so cool Glenn! _

_It sure is! This magic is called 'Thoron'! I learnt it from a buddy of mine! He says that because I have a Major Crest of Fraldarius, it means magic comes to me easier._

_Wow! Does that mean I can learn it too?_

_Hmm… Maybe! But first you have to learn the basics, okay! I can't have my little bro getting hurt because I didn't teach him properly now do I?_

_No way!_

_Haha! I knew I could count on you. Now, I want you to try and imagine something for me…_

Felix's conscious slowly came back as Annette's voice pulled him from out of his daze.

"Felix! That was… that was amazing! How did you…?"

"Don't… just don't…"

"Felix?"

Annette watched him trudge past him and towards the training ground's exit. Annette ran for Felix and latched onto his hand. "F-Felix, wait!"

The raven-haired boy stopped moving and stood deathly still. "Felix? What's wrong?"

"I just… I just want to forget him dammit…"

"Huh…?"

Felix squeezed Annette's hand as he turned to look at her straight in the eye. "How do I do it? How can I forget about Glenn…?"

Annette's eyes widened. "Glenn… that's you're brother right? He's the one that…" Annette stopped herself trying to gather herself properly against the unfolding and breaking Felix.

"He taught me how to cast lightning spells when I was younger. Before he… before he left, He taught me Thoron," Felix quivered, releasing unknown feelings to some girl he'd barely talked to, he should've known better. "I.. I thought maybe I could get the chance to forget him if I tried to learn magic here, with someone that didn't see me in him…"

"Felix… you're shaking," Annette mumbled, "Listen to me Felix. You can't forget him. I didn't know Glenn, a-and I don't see him in you! But you should know that forgetting people is how they die. If I forgot my father and he died in battle, then there'd be no one to recall his memory. I worked hard to get here, refusing to forget my father, even if he abandoned my mother and I. I understand if you don't understand where I am coming from. I won't lie to you and say I understand where you're coming from" Annette finished rambling, clasping Felix's hand in hers. "But… if you're willing to accept my help to get you through whatever you need, then please, let me help where I can!"

Felix stared at her and the hand his hand that Annette was clutching between hers. Evidently, they were both so confused by this whole mess. Felix nodded silently. Annette removed her hands from his (Seiros did it make him feel warm) and looked at him with a determined nod.

"Okay, Felix! From today, I'll help you in anyway I can, okay?!"

If Felix had to gander guess, it was a smile, his smile that caused because Annette gasped and turned red. "Then spar with me."

Annette composed herself with the same smile in return. "S-spar?" She exclaimed in surprise before eyeing a training axe and sword nearby. "Okay, let's do it! Let's work get stronger together from today onwards! Together!"

_Lets get stronger from today onwards, together, Little Fe!_

Felix could imagine his brother standing off the side, smirking at the two of them in amusement.

"Together."

_You hear that, little brother? Don't let her go, okay?!_

_Don't worry… I won't._

* * *

This is a very, very loose interpretation of the 'Teamwork' prompt.

Honestly, I'm not sure if this counts, but here it is nonetheless.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and have a good one!

P.S friendly reminder that comments are fuel!


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